Wow--I finally feel like I'm lucid dreaming with enough frequency to post to this level of the forum! Kudos to Rebecca and this great website! Just being able to post junk and get feedback has made a profound difference for me.

Without going into a lot of detail, I had a vivid dream over the weekend where I became spontaneously lucid as I was walking up this dank stairwell. Two great things happened: first, although it was exciting (let's face it, that initial onset of lucidity is a rush!), I willed myself to keep a cool head; second, I realized that I didn't need to try to find my way out of this stairwell--that instead I should be able to just go somewhere else--a specific place that, during my day, I've consciously designated as my "launching pad" for extended lucid dreaming.

So, I closed my dream eyes (yep, things went black) and told myself that when I opened my eyes I'd be out of this stairwell and be instead in this beautiful field near where I work that overlooks the Pacific. It seemed to me that I needed to keep my eyes closed for at least a little bit--just to relax, let things settle, and get myself focused and prepared for the "jump".

But just as suddenly as I became lucid, I was yanked (like something pulled me) right up out of the dream world into waking consciousness. Honestly, it was so fast that it felt almost like a reverse-roller coaster, and it left me lying there in bed with an "Aw, rats!" feeling (like--great--now it's going to take me at least a week or so to have another lucid dream!).

I've looked over Rebecca's notes on How to Stay Lucid. I've tried spinning in other LDs (I get dizzy!), and looking at my hands (sometimes kind of freaky, as my hands will be very deformed looking), but when I woke up one of my first thoughts was that I should have rubbed my hands.

I'm wondering if there may be a couple of other newbie "mistakes" I made. Any general thoughts or ideas? --Thanks for any info!

The really hard part is to stay objective and try to not use the conscious part of your mind at the start. Just be aware of the state and observe without pondering or thinking or assessing. Like a child that sees something for the first time, they will observe and play but might not form opinions and I feel its assessing that will pull you out of the LD. This was the hardest part for me in the beginning just simply being without thought. It’s a paradox as you need to think "this is a dream or I am dreaming" I find that I voice after this "I am dreaming" and yet the thought that creates the awareness is also the thought that allows emotion (excitement) to form and will ping you out of the dream. Hope this makes sense and others may express this in a better way

peter

Who are you I asked, the reply "dont be silly, we are your daughers" many years before they were born

Yeah, I don't think you made any mistake. It just happens. When you get more practice and experience, stuff like that will be more under your control. You gotta be careful when closing your eyes in a lucid dream, because when you open them, you might open your real eyes instead.

I had a lucid dream this morning, and to elongate it, I spun around but I closed my eyes while I did it, and annoyingly, when I opened them, It was my real physical eyes opening in my bedroom, just like what happened to you. I'm gonna try and remember not to close my eyes too much, but still, I wonder why that happens, anyone got any idea why closng your eyes in a dream and reopening them does this?

There are many things you can do to extend your adventures in the non-physical. My three favourites are:

Rubbing my hands together - But it's more than just "rubbing", you have to actually FEEL the sensation and the heat that it generates. Allow those sensations to lock you into the experience you're having.

Spinning around like a top - This is another favourite of mine. Just spin! You don't get dizzy cause you're not physically spinning, but it has the effect of locking you into the reality.

Focusing upon something in your vicinity - This one works very well as well. What you do is you stop everything you're doing and just focus upon one aspect of the environment around you. It might be a rock on the ground, a person standing there, anything. Whatever it is, give it your undivided attention for a few seconds by studying it closely. This locks you into the reality.

What these three things do are reduces your awareness of the physical should you begin to feel those senses kick in and INCREASES your non-physical senses of the reality you're currently in. This shuts down the physical senses. I use all three of these all the time and they work great.

I have toyed with lucid dreaming for many years without much success. I accidentally had a WILD night last night and I was able to make multiple efforts in the same session. I would begin to feel a wave of numbness take over my body along with a clicking wooshing sound in my ears. I remembered LaBerge had a technique where you would imagine yourself sitting in a car looking into the rearview mirror of an image of yourself and drive off while looking at the rear view mirror image getting smaller and smaller. I tried and and my whole body was VERY quickly buzzing with numbness! It was great! I swear i felt like i was vibrating! I think I my teeth may have been chattering, though I dont believe that this is possible.

I instantly floated up into the air above my bed in a sort of virtual reality version of my bedroom and attempted to command the lights on which only mildly worked. The problem I had was that I could feel myself try to speak with my physical mouth and look through my physical eyes. Not much longer after this, my body picked up on it and zap I was out of it.

Hopefully I can pull this off again. I want to try the hand rubbing and spinning. If I had not attempted to control things so early would this have allowed me to reach a deeper state? Is it possible to forget you are lucid and lose control?